A blog for the Strokes Gained Putting and Statistics App. Includes App instructions and golf advice. The Strokes Gained Putting App calculates stats for handicap, putting, driving, chipping, pitching, and sand play--the long game, short game, and putting. Learn the deficient parts of your golf game.

Strategy and Tactics

This Strategy and Tactics section is written by GOLF ADDICTION STATISTICS developer Gary K. Buffington, MD, MBA. Dr. Buffington is a life long golfer with a 12 handicap. He has been a life long runner, and now in old age a walker. Dr. Buffington is addicted to walking and has covered over 50,000 miles on foot (equivalent to around the world twice), including walking (with wife Millie) the entire Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine in the year 2000 soon after retiring as an Emergency Physician. Click here to read about the Appalachian Trail Experience. During his running career Dr. Buffington ran 39 marathons (of 26.2 miles, including the Boston Marathon twice) and ran 115 Ultra-marathon races of 50 mile length. His fastest marathon was 3:56 and he ran 50 miles in 9:07. Dr. Buffington is addicted to golf statistics and wrote the GOLF ADDICTION STATISTICS APP over the past few years while golfing in Pensacola, Florida.

Few idiots can play good golf. On the other hand, many brilliant doctors, lawyers, business men, performers, and others of great talent (and brains) often are abominable golfers. What does it take? There are many variables; brawn, brains, practice, desire, effort, hard work, hand-eye-coordination, knowledge, an adequate swing, and on and on. But once a player has achieved an appropriate level of ability to hit the ball it mostly comes down to strategic planning and application of tactics!

Sun Tzu wrote The Art of War, an ancient Chinese military treatise
and for the last two thousand years it remains the most important
military treatise. It has had an influence on Eastern and Western military thinking, business tactics, legal strategy, sports strategy and tactics, and beyond. Sun Tzu sums up the importance of strategy and tactics well with the following quote. “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”

Sun Tzu never played a round of golf but his war philosophy would work great for the links. Just substitute "golf challenge" for enemy and golf shot for "battle" in the following Sun Tzu quotation. " It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will
not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies
but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know
your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle."

So let's change this to golf: "It is said that if you know your GOLF CHALLENGE and know yourself, you will
not be imperiled in a hundred GOLF SHOTS; if you do not know your GOLF CHALLENGE
but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know
your GOLF CHALLENGE nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single GOLF SHOT."

Know your golf self. Know your golf challenges. Do not win one and lose one. Do not be imperiled by every single golf shot. Do not be imperiled in a hundred golf shots. Sun Tzu's philosophy will get you through a round and a half of par golf (100 shots) if you apply the proper strategy and tactics!